Best Vegan Nutella
You’d probably be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a fond childhood (or adult 😊) memory of Nutella. Although I’ve never loved chocolate (a rare specimen, I know), I’ve always loved the hazelnut chocolate flavor of Nutella. So when I learned that sugar and oil were the first two ingredients in this much loved spread, I knew there had to be a healthier yet equally delicious option. But even most homemade Nutella recipes use significant amounts of coconut sugar or maple syrup as a sweetener and still add oil to create a thinner, more spreadable consistency. This 5-ingredient vegan Nutella recipe highlights hazelnuts and cacao, is naturally sweetened with dates and includes no oil…creating a luscious, chocolatey spread that’s also nutritious. Enjoy this delicious spread as a dip for fresh fruit (apples and strawberries are my favorite), on rice crackers topped with fresh berries, in crepes, or even as an icing!
Yield: 1.5 cups Serving size: 1-2 Tbs Total Time: 20 mins Prep: 10 mins Cook: 10 mins
Equipment:
Baking sheet
Food processor
Ingredients:
1.5 cups raw unsalted hazelnuts
1/3 cup raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened plant-based milk
8 pitted Medjool dates (approx. 1/2 cup packed of any type of dates)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For Serving (optional)
Fresh fruits (i.e. apples, berries)
Toast
Rice cakes
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Place the pitted dates in a bowl. Boil some water and pour the water over the dates until they are just covered. Cover the bowl with a plate and let dates soak.
3. Place raw hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast in oven for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden. Check the nuts halfway through to ensure they are not burning.
4. Remove hazelnuts from the oven and allow to cool completely.
5. Place cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel. Gather the sides of the towel to create a small bag and gently rub the hazelnuts inside the towel “bag” until most of the hazelnut skins have rubbed off. (Alternatively, rub handfuls of the nuts between the palms of your hands to rub off the skins.) Don’t worry if some of the skins won’t come off. You just want to remove as much as possible because having too much of the skins on can make the nut butter taste bitter.
6. Place the peeled hazelnuts in the food processor and blend until you reach a thin, runny nut butter consistency (the nut butter should easily pour off the spoon). This should take approx. 5-6 minutes in most food processors. You will need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times.
7. Drain the dates and add them into the food processor along with the cacao powder, plant-based milk and vanilla extract. Blend everything until a smooth chocolatey mixture is reached. Scrape down the sides several times to make sure everything is well-combined.
8. Enjoy this delicious chocolate spread as a dip for fresh fruit, on toast or rice crackers topped with fresh berries, in crepes, or even as an icing!
Tips:
1. Roasting Hazelnuts: You can roast multiple batches of hazelnuts at once and store them in an airtight container in your pantry, so the next time you want to make this spread, you can skip that first step, which is really the only “time consuming” step. Alternatively, if you can find already roasted hazelnuts, you can skip the roasting step altogether. In my area, Trader Joe’s typically carries roasted hazelnuts.
2. Dates: Medjool dates are my favorite to use for this recipe because they are super soft and plump and impart a delicious caramel maple flavor to any recipe. (The best price I’ve found for Medjool dates is a 1 lb box for $5 at Aldi and Trader Joe’s.) The smaller date varieties tend to be drier and harder. But for this recipe they will still work because soaking them in water will help to rehydrate them and make them soft and easy to blend.
3. Date Water: When you drain the dates, you can save the date water and use it to make tea or coffee or add it as the liquid to a smoothie, as it will be naturally slightly sweet.
4. Plant-based milk: My favorite plant-based milk to use in any recipe (or to drink plain!) is unsweetened soy milk, as it is an excellent source of protein, containing about 9g per cup, equivalent to dairy milk.
5. Consistency: Since this spread uses dates instead of sugars or syrups and includes no oil, it is a thicker, yet still easily spreadable consistency compared to store-bought Nutella. If you prefer it thinner, you could add a splash more plant-based milk, but that will make the spread a lighter, less chocolatey color…but still delicious!
Storage:
1. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.
Decadent enough to enjoy as dessert…but healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast too!
